Michael A. Pruno

Tag Archives: jay-z

Off rip, I need to offer a disclaimer: in my debatable opinion, Nas is the G.O.A.T, almost divine from my point of view. His sophmore album, “It Was Written” may be my favorite album of all time. His second effort was laced with cuts like “Take it in blood”, “Shootouts” and “The Message”, which showed an elevation in his artistry in comparison to his immortal debut “Illmatic”. From Nas’ fashion sense, to his writing ability, all the way down to his mystique when dealing with some of the baddest women on the planet, the “only one Sade dated” has been an inspirtation to me in more ways than one. However, my admiration for Nas and opinion on the Jay/Nas feud creates quite the juxtaposition. With that said, I digress…

In the darker years of Nas legendary career, circa 1998 to 2000, Jay-Z’s career really started to take off after going platinum 5 times over with his “Hard Knock Life” album. Up to this point, Nas was undoubtedly the city’s golden pen, but the ink was running dry for Esco and the support seemed to shift in the direction of Hov. There was silent tension since the inception of Jay’s career, and escalated after the departure of B.I.G because it gave way to the King-Of-New-York conversation. Some will say Nas threw the first dart all the way back in 1996 on “The Message” when he said “Lex with tv sets the minimum”, after Jay was seen driving a lex, with tv sets, in a few of his early videos. That’s neither here, nor there. Some will also say it all started because of a proceeding subliminal exchange between Nas and Jay’s shooter, Memphis bleek, in 1999.

“Ima ball til I fall what you think of that?”-Memphis Bleek (“What you think of that?”)

Re: “you wanna ball til you fall? I could help you with that”- Nas (“Nastradamus”)

Once again, that’s neither here, nor there. All the subs, resentments and tension would have it’s cover blown with one subtle line on that Hot 97 Summer Jam stage, in 2001. Hov used the platform to debut, what was really a Mobb Deep diss: “Takeover”. However, what caught the ears of the city wasn’t his jabs about Prodigy’s credibility or height, it was the line that ended the song: “Y’all niggas don’t want it with Hov, ask Nas, he don’t want it with Hov”. It is said that Nas was reluctant to respond because, despite Jay’s success, he didn’t believe the Brooklynite was on his level. Thankfully, Nas had some honest people around him, who put him on game and said in so many words “regardless what you believe, this is the dude right now, if you don’t respond, it’s over”.

Nas initial response was “H to the omo” or the “stillmatic freestyle”. This was a flex in lyrical superiority over the break-beat from Dennis Edward’s “Don’t look any further”, popularized in the hip hop world by Eric B & Rakim’s “Paid in full” . Nas threw more than a few not-so-subliminal lines towards Hov, even calling him the rapper version of Sisqo, which un-intentionally made the Dru-hill singer the standard for soft in the rap world. The response was enough to make Hov go back to the lab to add an additional verse to “Takeover” solely aimed for Nas dome piece like Jerome’s niece coming from Jones Beach.

The additional verse was all types of disrespectful and attacked Nas from every angle. Jay picked at his artistic and street credibility, and ended the verse by subliminally referencing that he fucked Nas baby mother, Carmen Bryan, who later used it to her advantage and made a tell-all book about it. It seemed quiet for Nas after that. Lo and behold, 6 months later, Nas drops “Ether” which is almost seen as the awakening of the beast, the resurrection and a far cry from records like “You owe me”. Nas also took it to record levels of disrespect and mockery, referencing him swagger-jacking Biggies style, his Hawaiian sophie days and made room to call him a “tae-bo hoe”.

With everyone waiting for a response from Jay, he dropped a sub-par diss track “Super ugly” which just seemed like he was trying to be more disrespectful than creative. Nas’ biggest advantage, at this point, was representing the underdog . The game almost-unanimously labeled Nas the victor in this match of the titans. But here’s where the confession comes in, even as a Nas stan, I feel Jay won.

There are a number of reasons why a lot of people feel that Jay lost. One, they didn’t expect anything from Nas at that point in his career, but he came out like a bear from hibernation. Two, Jay responded with “super-ugly”, which gave room for general perception to compare a weaker response to “Ether”, rather than pinning it against “Takeover”. Three, “Ether” became a verb for shitting on people after Nas dropped it. However, outside of the moment and in retrospect, Jay came with more fact and “Ether” seemed more like a game of dozens. Nas clowned Jay, attacking his physical misfortune, homosexual references, unrealistic threats. Nas also criticized him for taking from Big, which could also be considered Jay paying homage to a fallen friend. What could be the most potent and transcending critique in “Ether” was about Eminem “murdering” Hov on “Renegade”, which gave birth to barbershop analysts everywhere debating verses on any track which featured two or more prominent spitters. In contrast: Jay, being sharp in the art of war, played on the collective’s opinion of Nas at the time. Though a Nas fan such as myself doesn’t agree that he never lived up to the potential of “Illmatic”, there is a large amount of hip hop fans who feel that way. Jay also pointed out instances like the questionable “Karl Kani” ads and “oochie wally” appearances. Hov shot at Nas with facts, for the most part he avoided joking and bullshit threats. Here are some of the jabs Hov dropped that Nas should’ve addressed:

He attacked “oochie wally”: Another questionable move on Nas behalf and is almost cringe worthy to listen to Nas stretch for fame in that fashion until this day.

“I showed you your first tec, on tour with Large Professor, then I heard your album about the tec on the dresser”: this line would just be another aimless jab of credibility from Jay, but Large Professor spoke on this as well.

“So yeah I sampled your voice…you ain’t get a coin, nigga, you was gettin fucked then/ I know who I paid, God- Serchlite publishing”: attacking Nas on a business-level and him getting duked out of money by bad contractual terms. Serch did say that there was some fact to this on “The Champs” podcast, though that wasn’t the name of his publishing company at the time.

“You’ve been in this 10, I been in it 5- smarten up, Nas”: From a level of progression, Nas was not where he was supposed to be with the sub-par “Nastradamus” and the good (but not IWW/Illmatic level) “I AM”, he wasn’t where most would’ve thought judging from how the queensbridge emcee shot out the gate. In the meantime, Jay was going no-where but up.

“Because you know who-did you know what-with you know who”: Jay referencing the more-than-alleged sexual encounter with the mother of Nas first born. Super disrespectful and confirmed.

So yeah, as a fan of fact-based personal attack, I feel Jay took this battle. Regardless of what your opinion is, we can all agree: this is one of the best back-and-forths hip hop as ever seen. The kings clashed and kept it on wax. They provided pure entertainment and classic material, that we still talk about nearly 15 years later.

As I stated in my disclaimer, Nas is still my favorite emcee of all time. He was 2 top 5 albums for me (IWW & Illmatic), while Jay only has one (Reasonable Doubt). As he stated on “Ether” he did influence a whole generation of rappers and reigned as the cream of the crop, in an era of hip hop when your pen had to be sharp to survive. Though Nas has had his inconsistencies, he’s always managed to bounce back and he proved that with his 2012 album “Life Is Good”, the moet-drinking-marajuana-smoking- street dweller can still do it, regardless of where he’s at in life.

Sidebar: The beat to “Ether” was awful.

Sidebar II: If you say Jay won, on the basis of Nas signing to Def Jam, you’re a corn.

Dame Dash is defined differently depending on your age group and era. You may know him for playing his pivatol role in Roc-A-Fella records side-by-side with Hov, you may know him for verbally assaulting business executives, or you may be unfamiliar all together due to his nearly-decade-long absence from the spotlight. In recent times, Dame Dash has been reborn again, he’s become the symbol for modern-day independence, a business man with his mind on just that, his own business (Fuck being a chatty-patty).

Dame’s recent campaign started in 2013. The first chapter of his resurgence was based in calling out people, who he labeled to be “culture vultures”. This term was directed at those, who he felt had no genuine interest in the culture, except for the dollar, who were pimping young artists with aspirations of being in hip hop. He accused people such as Lyor Cohen (Of Def Jam), Joie Manda (Of Interscope), among other higher ups in the music industry, of being white collar crooks. He accused Cohen of inventing the infamous 360 deal, which is the closest the music business can come to slavery. For those who may be unfamiliar with what a 360 deal actually is, it’s the music label offering finances for touring, marketing and promotion (etc.), in exchange for ownership of pretty much every aspect of an artist’s income (might even tell them how to dress and talk. no bullshit). Dame’s side of the story holds weight, due to the fact that he’s seen it from the inside and he’s personally witnessed the sheisty methods of the music industry and it’s most powerful pawns. He used his history and experience in the game, to fuel his jewel-filled rant. His argument made even more sense in the age of the internet. Considering the fact that the internet offers a straight to consumer business model, which essentially cuts out the middle-man. Point being, there is no reason to pay, in the way artist’s have been paying, for major label services. The major labels are slowly becoming a dinosaur, as Dame said, the executives will tell you differently but it’s only because that’s their means of survival. The anti-major label route is becoming more popular in this era, as you see many artists who flourished courtesy of an independent grind (I.e. Asap Rocky, Troy Ave). People like The Lox, 50 cent and Prodigy (of mobb deep), who’ve all been a part of major labels, have opted to go independent.This segwayed perfectly into his next chapter, which is what I call the “Be your own boss” segment.

Since his exposure of “Culture vultures”, Dash has not at all been shy about publically denouncing dirty business people’s tactics on platforms like Sway in the morning, and YouTube channels belonging to the well-educated, Dr. Boyce Watkins, as well as the “Hip Hop motivation” channel. But the most loved, hated, impactful and controversial appearance was that on New York radio-station Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club. The Harlem native spoke candidly about the beauty of independence, building your own brand and putting your own money in the street. He attacked those willing to settle for anything less than ownership and working for yourself, even making examples out of those in the room such as the legendary DJ Envy. A key point in Dame’s perspective was “Hustle for your last name, not your first”, which can be interpreted as taking financial risks and stepping out of the comfort of a 9-to-5, so you have an opportunity to indulge in generational prosperity. His criticism’s towards the every day working man or woman, was that they were selfish for not taking these chances and not thinking enough about the future of their children. He also accused the average employee of being too comfortable in the security of a “job” & too submissive to another individual, claiming that calling someone else your “boss”, is like calling them your “daddy”. He sprinkled metaphors from his drug dealing days in comparison to the “legitimate” work world, to put things in perspective for those who may live like he did in his past. Of course, none of his argument has any substance, unless it is backed with evidence. Dame decorated the interview with boastful claims of his own endeavors, beyond music, into the world of movie production, fashion, art and even oil, demanding he be called a “Tycoon” and not a mogul. The delivery of the argument may have seemed harsh and even offensive due to him poking fun at working people, such as most of us, but it’s a reality check.

If anyone knows their history, Dame Dash’s approach was similar to that of Karl Marx. Marx is a well-renowned socialist, among many other accolades. Throughout the mid-to-late 1800s, Karl Marx bashed the system of capitalism and the idea of working for someone else. Marx stated that working in a pyramid stucture under a “boss” alienates you from yourself and molds you into someone who is working towards another person’s dream instead of your own. Marx stated that the workers will stay workers and the bosses will stay bosses, because they are both necessary in the economic system. Furthermore, Marx claimed that managers and bosses will sell you a dream of mobility, to keep you content with being a worker, but made it clear that you’re never really moving up in the world unless you gain ownership. This is Dame’s point, exactly.

Like most awakenings in our history, his sentiments were polarizing. Some saw the message underneath Dame’s rough-around-the-edges persona. Opposition saw it as insulting and ignorant, saying “there’s nothing wrong with working for a boss and a normal job”, which is a subjective argument and really based on personality. Instagram lit up with snarky memes exaggerating Dash’s “self-reliant” point of view, some of which, were hysterical too. The point of this piece isn’t to bash critics of Dame Dash’s perspective, but more so to say, that Dame Dash wasn’t wrong either. He has accolades and business ventures to prove his point. The only gap in between the every-day working person (such as myself) and ownership is often a lack of belief in their own ability, or fear. The fear of taking the risks necessary and the haunting doubt that’s telling us: “what if you take these risks, and it still doesn’t work?”, this is a defining question and the answer varies, depending on the individual. If you love your job and your boss, more power to you, I respect it. At the same time, if you have aspirations to be your own boss, there is opportunity out here and likeminded people (such as myself) who you should surround yourself with.

Dame’s argument may have been fueled by criticisms of others but the foundation was empowerment of the individual. The man wasn’t saying you “can’t” become your own boss, but enticingly saying that you “won’t” because you’re afraid too. He used the critiques and jagged-edged jokes as a vehicle of tough love to wake us up as a people. In my humble opinion, I don’t believe he was talking to everyone, he’s probably intelligent enough to know his message won’t resonate with an older generation whose long been settled into their job. I believe he was talking to the individuals with time on their side, who, in their heart want to work off their own interest,on their own schedule and are only opposed by self-doubt. Dame is pushing for a different model of business for the future and if you can’t see the diamond in the rough, that’s on you fam.

The debate for the “King of New York” in hip hop is an unresolvable, pointless & compeltely subjective argument, but it’s fun none the less. It’s a conversation that’s been going on in barbershops since the days of Krs-One, Rakim & Big Daddy Kane. Nobody is ever going to change their mind whether they believe it’s Nas, Biggie or Jay, when it’s all said and done, opinions will remain unshaken and everyone will stick to their guns. That’s mainly because there are different reasons and standards regarding people’s opinions. My standard for the best in the town is based in longevity, as well as quality penmanship and product, for other’s it may differ. For instance, most people who say Jay owns the crown will support their argument with his accolades, how much he’s done not only for hip hop but on a business level too. For those who go the Biggie route, they’ll speak on him (and Bad Boy records) irrefutable dominance of Hip hop in the 90s, and his ability to crossover to the mainstream, while simultaneously maintaining his credibility on a street level. For those who say Nas, they will most likely bring up how his 1994 debut shook the grounds of hip hop, his uncontested pen game, How he ethered Jay and how he was regarded as the top rapper, lyrically, in the Golden-era of the 90s, when everyone had to be nice to survive. Regardless, it’s a cold case. Since the 90s other’s have been thrown into the discussion, but those 3 remain the top guns even in 2015. 50 cent, who specialized in the destructive competitiveness of New York Hip Hop, made the argument relevant again in a new era when he went on his tirade in the early 2000s going at everyone from Ja Rule, to Dipset, to The Lox, and Fat Joe, pretty much everyone in New York who was even remotely relevant. However, something that always amazes me, is that after the decades of debating and all of these bullshit back-and-forths I’ve been involved in or witnessed, nobody has ever brought Wu-Tang’s top swordsman up, The God, Raekwon.

I won’t even use Rae’s countless amount of contributions on Wu-Tang projects as evidence to why he should be in the argument, I’ll focus solely on his solo career. Off top, the Purple Tape, his solo debut, the 1995 Classic“Only Built For CubanLinx”, widely regarded as one of (if not the) the best hip hop albums to ever bless the culture. It was more than an album, it was a moment, a turning of the tide in hip hop with an impact that is only rivaled by albums like Nas’ “Illmatic” or Dr.Dre’s 1992 masterpiece, “The Chronic”. The album established Raekwon (& Ghostface) as trail blazers, the influence was immediate, from the content to the slang Rae & Ghost were using. The album introduced a new subgenre in hip hop which was labeled mafioso-rap, the black Gambino. It’s the cross between Mob movies such as “The Godfather” and “Good Fellas”, intertwined with inner-city New York street life of the 80s and early 90s. The story-telling was vivid (Slick Rick/Kool G Rap esque) and RZA’s production was vintage. Aside from that, this album spawned a bunch of “A.K.A’s” such as Lex Diamonds for Rae and Tony Starks, for Ghostface, which set another trend in hop hop. Every major hip hop album that came out following OB4CL had traces and elements of Rae’s classic solo-debut. That includes Jay-Z’s “Reasonable Doubt”, Nas’ “It Was Written” and Big’s “Life After Death”. All 3 of those albums, undeniable classics (Stop hating on IWW), had some of Ghost & Rae’s recipe in them. For starters, the street narratives started to become more of the norm, with artists detailing violent, often drug related, tales heavily based in cinematically-influenced imagination (Biggie “Niggas bleed”, Nas’ “The Set Up”). Along with that, the nicknames that started to pop up (Nas “Escobar”, Biggie “Frank White”, Jay’s “Cashmere Brown”), as well as the Gambino talk. The influence didn’t go unnoticed, even Cappadonna stated on Wu-Tang’s “Little Ghetto Boys” (1997):

“You not a real brother you just a fake type That get on the mic then throw your cliché Half the East coast sounding just like Rae If you a Gambino, give credit to the flow”

That’s a shot that could’ve gone in plenty of directions, but, I digress. Some will say, “Well, Okay, that’s one album”, true, and it’s absolutely the stand out of Rae’s 5 album catalog. Every artist has that one album that outshines the rest of their work, regardless of how much quality material they’ve put out . Rae has had his slip-ups, sure, like his second album “Immobilarity”. Though the penmanship was still there, the overall feel and quality wasn’t. The 1999 release had no Ghostface features or RZA production and the story telling wasn’t as sharp or abundant but the album still had it’s moments. His 2003 release “The Lex Diamond story” was another dent in the catalog because of a lack of cohesivness, giving it more of a mixtape feel, and a tracklist which should of been narrowed down. Rae should be granted his 2 mishaps just as Jay was with “Blueprint 2” and pretty much every solo album after “The Black Album” (minus “American Gangster”). Nas was excused of his 1999 fail “Nastradamus” and 2004’s “Streets Disciple”. While on the other hand it’s hard to judge Big on a level of consistency, when he had two releases (both classics, though) and in hinesight we barely had 3 years from him (unfortunately, Rest In Peace). Rae’s 2 most recent releases, the sequel to OB4CL (2009) and “Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang”(2011) are both high-quality albums in an era when we saw plenty of our favorite rappers from the 90s completely fall off.

Rae’s longevity speaks for itself, he’s still everywhere you look, he’s still relevant, and he’s still dressed dip (Follow him on Instagram). Raekwon has had impressive features on some of the biggest projects in the modern era, such as Kanye’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” (“Gorgeous”), French Montana’s “Excuse My French” (“We go wherever we want”), Schoolboy Q’s “Oxy-Moron” (“Blind threats”) and ASAP Mob’s “Lords” mixtape (“Underground Killa”), to name a few. He’s still sharper than his competition, even these days, and he’s more tangible to the younger generation of artists than anyone of the same legendary status. He’s not afraid to step in the box and hang with the new guys, which is testament to his consistency. All this to say, there is no reason why Raekwon should keep getting disregarded in the Mt. Rushmore of New York’s hip hop history, he has the albums, the penmanship, the timeless-influence, and the longevity to back his case up. I’m not saying he doesn’t get credit, because everyone respects Rae’s craft, but he’s not held on the pedestal that he’s supposed to be with the rest of the elite.

Sidebar: Raekwon’s sixth solo album “F.I.L.A (Fly Internation Luxurious Art)” is slated to drop this year, be on the look out.

In a 7 minute long freestyle aside Big L, Jay-Z once rapped “I’ll raise hell, ’til its heaven”. Which is essentially what he did, coming from Marcy housing projects and moving his way up to having a partnership with Barneys among other business endeavors and plenty of platinum plaques. Jay-Z’s reign is unlike any we’ve seen in hip hop, still being just as relevant as he was when his break through “In My Lifetime Vol. II: Hard Knock Life” album came out in 1998. You would think that this is what all people who come from a background like Jay would aspire to do, however he comes under heavy heat for his success. Jay is labeled as “watered down”, a “sell out”, accused of compromising artistic value for finance. Of course, there are people who praise Jay-Z for what he has made of himself, but a lot of people from neighborhoods just like the one in which he came from, and people who were riding with Jay through his early work just look at him as an uncle Tom. Is it just a manifestation of jealousy and the crabs in the barrel mentality? or is there solid reason for this claim?, it’s a matter of opinion really. Some people may love Jay’s last effort with his Magna Carta album this past summer, while most fans of Reasonable Doubt Jay-Z can’t stand to listen to it. Though I’ve used Jay-Z as the example, he’s not the only one, this has been a trend in hip hop for as long as its been around. The mentality of attaching negativity to “going mainstream” may just be a reflection of the general attitude towards success in these neighborhoods where so many of these rappers come from. People like MC Hammer and Vanilla ice were the sacrificial lambs of hip hop, because though they were never accepted as real artists in thorough hip hop circles, they were the friendly guys who mainstream America could accept a little more, thus expanding hip hop. It opened hip hop to markets, that an N.W.A or a Public Enemy would never get in, just off the basis of fear of outside communities. Hammer and Vanilla Ice were completely cut off from the hip hop community, wrote off as pop trash (cue “pop goes da weasel”). Both selling millions on top of millions of records and bringing hip hop into houses it never was before, a more broad commercial success, but most hip hop fans laugh at them and make the two emcees as standards for being corny, ignoring the fact that they did make a contribution to hip hop. Not all rappers had to take the route of holding their sentiment to sell more records. Those who successfully managed to get across the views of the ‘hood and gain fame were viewed as superheroes, but their success came with a cost and possibly threatened the expansion of the art because of it’s negative and threatening stigma.

The way a lot of us hip hop fans see it, the way you’re supposed to gain more broad exposure is by kicking the door down, not with knocking politely hoping to being let in. N.W.A, is a prime example, coming out and gaining national exposure with songs like “straight outta Compton” and “Fuck Da Police”, songs that reflected the hostility and anger that lived where they came from, every rebel identified with it, even from suburban communities. Though the rebellious spirit in early hip hop was met with a lot of resistance, as they say “no press is bad press”. Hip hop was gaining national attention because of their take-no-shit, sick-and-tired, alpha male & misogynistic themes. Some would argue, though this negativity brought hip hop to an international level, it was also overshadowing the actual art of the music and hurting it’s chances of being sold in certain locations and being seen as a risk for people who were interested in investing. Record labels began taking heed to the fact that hip hop acts being so loud about the message may hurt the companies money, and started to reflect that on to their artists. Despite the corporations efforts there were still labels like Cold Chillin’ Records (Kool G Rap), Loud Records (Wu Tang, Mobb deep, Big Pun etc), & Rawkus (Black Star), which generated what is considered to be “Real Hip Hop”. However, signing a deal with a label that may offer more broad and commercial appeal such as Columbia or Bad Boy, was viewed as something that could put even the most revered rapper’s career in jeopardy, reputation wise. Though it’s not even a stain the rapper’s legacy at this point, at the point in which Nas decided to strive for a little more commercial success, he was attacked for it. The “second coming of Rakim’s” first album, “Illmatic” was naturally accepted as a thoroughbred, hip hop by definition, classic. It was the second time around that was met with negative criticism. Nas’ second album “It Was Written”, took a little more time to really be appreciated. The QB spitter’s sophomore effort was a clear showcase of Nas’ elevation, as a story teller, a writer and as an overall artist. Nas had some of his grittiest tracks such as “Live Nigga Rap”, “I gave you power” & “Shootouts” on that album. But it was because The Trackmasters had a heavy hand in producing the album, and there was a lot less production from Dream Team of producers assembled on his first effort. There were more broadly appealing songs with R&B hooks such as “If I Ruled The World” and “Black girl lost”, that the “Golden Child” of hip hop was criticized for selling out because of. People grew such an attachment to Nas off illmatic, because of his promise and reflection of the projects, that they took it personal when Nas had a mainstream hit. The Trackmasters talents were often overlooked because of their mainstream success with Mary J. Blige, Soul For Real and Faith Evans, and the fact that they often flipped more hardcore tracks with a melodic, sample heavy remix. But Tone and Poke also had a history of production credits for Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap, among other well respected emcees, before they worked with Nas. But critics so conveniently ignored that part of the story. To people like me, “It was written” was a perfect album. There is something to be said about an artist who can have street, boom bap hip hop shit and blend it effortlessly with something more appealing to the masses. There was nothing gimmicky, even regarding the controversial single “If I Ruled the world”. It was Nas being Nas the visionary, with Lauryn Hill on the hook, whats more hip hop than that?. It was the fact that Nas wasn’t exactly waving the underground hero flag, and because his popularity grew, instead of Illmatic fans being happy for him and giving the album a fair listen, they criticized him. But for fun, let’s say Nas stays the exact artist he was on “Illmatic”, chances are he wouldn’t have made it to where he is now. Nas is now branching out to deals with Hennessy and others, representing hip hop at Harvard. His ability to make these moves come off the strength of what he has done as an artist, he probably wouldn’t be able to do all he has done if he didn’t evolve from Illmatic.

I will admit, a lot of artists will sacrifice some of their music for more mainstream success and it shows. Artist’s who blatantly make songs that don’t sound natural, deserve to be criticized. Much respect to Jay-Z but when he came with “In my lifetime vol. 1”, which is an extremely underrated album, there was a blatant attempt to attract that Bad Boy audience. Jay was rocking a shiny green suit in his “Sunshine” video alongside Foxy Brown, and the song itself didn’t sound organic at all. Luckily Jay found his groove and exploded with Vol. II and did it smooth, he made his lifestyle appealing to all listeners. He brought in guys like Swizz beats, Timbaland (who didn’t produce much hip hop to that point), and even Premier to make a complete album that could rock an M.O.P crowd or a Drake crowd. But that’s the point, if someone’s putting together quality music that just happens to appeal to the masses, they shouldn’t be knocked just off the attention they’re getting for it. Now-a-days, we have someone like a Kendrick Lamar, who is the medium, the balance between super stardom and “backpack” hip hop (I hate saying “real” hip hop). His first album “Good Kid, Maad City”, was a critically acclaimed piece of work from both the guys in the barbershop and Rolling Stone magazine. He doesn’t seem to be doing anything to compromise his art, he made his personal story appealing enough to earn a platinum plaque and arguably the hottest right now. He just has the gift from God, of being able to be himself & be widely accepted at the same time. It will be interesting to see how Kendrick Lamar develops. People are already starting with the “he’s feeling himself too much”, due in large part to his game changing verse on Big Sean’s “Control”. In some cases, there really are rappers who lost fans on the basis of their success, with no correlation to the quality of music. Certain types of people take pride in being “exclusive” as if they’re the only person to know about an artist. So when the artists starts gaining popularity, the loan fan loses his “one-up” on everyone else, ultimately making them be less of a fan. Ridiculous, but very real. But for us more progressive hip hop fans who appreciate the Golden era hip hop, and find the good and artistic value in Today’s hip hop, we’re in good shape. A true artist can make the underground appealing to the masses, and mainstream appeal to the underground by doing it their own way. Very few are capable of it, but the gifted artists who do, are often assumed to be watered down and only given a biased ear. Not all underground hip hop is good, and not all mainstream hip hop is wack. Open minds, people.